Urine testing stix
Human and animal diabetics both use ketostix or ketodiastix. These are reagent indicator strips that test urine for only ketone (ketostix) or for both ketones and glucose (ketodiastix). These links show examples of Ketostix Hocks.com Website: Ketostix and KetodiastixHocks.com Website: Ketodiastix. These stix are available at any brick-and-mortar or Internet pharmacy that sells human diabetic supplies. Stix do expire, so check the unopened expiration date when you buy them and record the date you open them. Keep the bottle tightly closed when not in use. If the foil-wrapped Ketostix, rather than the ones in vials are purchased, you may find it less wasteful. After the bottle is opened, the remaining unused strips have only a 6 months' life. By using the foil-wrapped ones, you can extend the "life" of your purchase. The singly-wrapped ones can have a unopened expiration date of up to two years. You are then only using what you need when you need it, having the rest still sealed and potent until the indicated expiration date Understanding Diabetes-Ketone Testing. You should test your pet's urine for ketones for the reasons discussed at ketones. You may test your pet's urine for glucose because (1) you've been instructed to do so by the vet as a method of gauging regulation, (2) your pet is undiagnosed and you want to determine whether there is hyperglycemia, or (3) your cat is in remission and you want to determine whether there is hyperglycemia. How to catch urine. Some people place the stix under their pet's stream when s/he is urinating. Others catch urine in a dedicated spoon, ladle, or other collection device and dip the stix into the urine. Sometimes, catching urine from a cat requires stalking it. This can be a challenge in the UK where many cats are allowed outdoors to relieve themselves. Still others confine the cat to a small space (a bathroom) with an empty or almost empty litter box covered with plastic wrap that will catch the urine. Intervet has Internet pages with some ideas for performing urine tests on catsIntervet-Urine Test Hints for Cats and dogsIntervet-Urine Test Hints for Dogs. More tips Healthypet.com Collecting Urine Samples on collecting uring samples for dogs. Evaluating the results. The stix bottle has instructions and color charts to show you how the color on the stix will change given the level of ketones/glucose in the urine over 15 (ketones) or 30 (glucose) seconds. Be sure to read the colors at those time intervals because the colors will continue to darken and a later reading will be an incorrect result. * If you see a "trace" or more of ketones, see ketones. * The glucose portion of the stix measures your pet's glycosuria--that is, the glucose that has collected in your pet's bladder since s/he last urinated. If you see any color change in the glucose portion of the stix, that means that your pet has exceeded its renal threshhold since it last urinated. The darker the color, the higher your pet's BG level has been since its last urination. Note that positive urinary glucose results are not indicative of your pet's blood glucose level at the time it urinated. No meaningful conversion between urine glucose and blood glucose readings is possible. * If you are testing urine for glucose, the time you test likely affects results in this way: mid-day urine glucose tests would reflect the nadir of glucose in the system--this also represents the peak of the insulin. Morning urine glucose tests are frequently high. Seeing negative urine glucose test, especially repeated negative ones, can mean the pet is approaching hypoglycemiaBetter Medicine E-newsletter Jone 2006. Both Cephalexin (brand name Keflex) Keflex/Cephalexin Drug Information-Medline and enrofloxacin (brand name Baytril) Baytril/Enrofloxacin Drug Information-Petplace.com antibiotics have been proven to produce false (both false positive and false negative) urine glucose test results when the drugs are administered to dogsCephalexin/Keflex & Enrofloxacin/Baytril & Inaccurate Urine Glucose Test Results in Dogs-JAVMA 2004. Antibiotics Tetracycline (human brand names Helidac, Sumycin) can cause false urine glucose test results Tetracycline Medications & False Urine Testing Results-Medline. Doxycycline (human brand names Doryx, Doxy 100, Monodox, Vibramycin, Vibra-Tabs) can do the sameDoxycycline Medications & False Urine Testing Results-Medline. Further Reading *Understanding Feline Diabetes Mellitus: Pathogenesis and Management-U Queensland 2005-Rand/Marshall Section with information on how to monitor urine for cats using Lantus (glargine) who won't allow regular blood glucose testing. *Urinanalysis: Obtaining a Urine Sample Drs. Foster & Smith Pet Education Library *Cornell University-Feline Health Center-Urine Monitoring Flash Movie Ways to Collect Test Urine and How to Read Ketone Test Strips. References Category:SuppliesCategory:Tips Category:Terms